Stop Hoarding Your Data!

Spring is in the air, and it’s a great time to clean out the old and bring in the new! And, that goes for your company’s data as well.

Many of you may have seen the television show “Hoarders.” Our morbid curiosity gets the better of us, and we can’t help but watch, mesmerized by the dysfunction, in the extreme. Perhaps we think it could never happen to us. More than likely, we hoard just a little bit. Receipts accumulate until the pile becomes unruly. Business cards from 2006 are stuffed in a drawer. Pens and giveaway items get left in a box in the corner. These are relatively “normal” behaviors. A little hoarding isn’t dysfunctional, but in the extreme it can be a disaster.

If you don’t archive your data – you may be a hoarder!

Hoarding idiosyncrasies extend into the world of enterprise software, cloud computing and data management. Simply put, if you are not archiving your data on a regular basis, you are a hoarder…of sorts. When was the last time you archived your data, put it into meaningful order, in its rightful place, where it can be accessed easily and seamlessly for future reference?

If you’ve watched “Hoarders”, then you know that in the extreme, it can lead to catastrophic consequences. Often, the victims of hoarding are relegated to a very small, very sad life. They can barely function. If your company is not archiving data, you can expect to suffer similar consequences. In all likelihood:

Data will become difficult to access and manage.

Systems will be more vulnerable to bugs and glitches.

Systems will be inefficient, slowed down and susceptible to corruption.

Most importantly, your bottom line results will be negatively impacted.

Inefficiencies are expensive. The good news is that the problem is very fixable. Even if you haven’t archived your data for ages, there are simple measures to put your house in order. Here are some tips to help you get that fresh start for your data: